China Swaps Troupes for Troops

One military unit in China’s northeast has racked up some notable international victories. They’re just not the kind President Xi Jinping wants as he undertakes the biggest restructuring of the People’s Liberation Army since the 1950s. As WSJ’s Jeremy Page reports:

Among them are accolades for performing “Lion Dance and Trick-Cycling by Girls” at a festival in France, “Juggling Umbrellas with Feet” at a contest in Sweden and for plate spinning in Poland.

Known as the “Advance Cultural Troupe” of the Shenyang Military Region, the unit is among dozens of the PLA’s acrobatic, theatrical and song and dance groups caught in the firing line of Mr. Xi’s plans to cut 300,000 of its 2.3 million troops—including many in noncombat roles.

Many have been merged, re-named or shrunk, and all have been banned from commercial performances, marking the end of an era for the PLA’s public face and a mainstay of Chinese popular culture.

Formed in the 1930s to spread propaganda among illiterate soldiers and peasants, the troupes have performed live across China and overseas, produced hundreds of plays, operas, ballets and films, and been regular features on state television. The ensembles also have created stars, some linked romantically to Chinese leaders from Chairman Mao Zedong to Mr. Xi, whose wife Peng Liyuan rose to fame as a singer in one.